Month: October 2008


Note from JWR:

SurvivalBlog was prominently mentioned in a front page piece on MSNBC yesterday and the resulting hits nearly crashed our server. (We got almost 90,000 unique visits in one day! That’s nearly as many as we usually get in a week.) Here is the article: Hard times have some flirting with survivalism–Economic angst has Americans stockpiling ‘beans, bullets and Band-Aids’. The story itself was well-written, but the headline was a bit much. Flirting? Flirting? I’d say that it is more like America has run off and eloped in Las Vegas with Survivalism. The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction …


Three Letters Re: Advice on Driveway Alarms for Retreat Security

Mr. Rawles, We’ve been using the Dakota Alert driveway alarm for years. We use the model with the underground sensor that will only go off when a metal object comes near it such as a large (or even small) vehicle. The advantage of this is it has absolutely no false alarms. When the receiver says a car is coming down our (long) driveway, then a car is coming. There is nothing worse than an alarm that gives false alarm all the time and you no longer can trust it. The infrared driveway alarms that I’ve tried do this especially if …


Letter Re: Advice on Silver Coins for Barter

Mr. Rawles, I have only a small amount of silver American coins but I constantly look for more. I find your advice to buy pre-1964 dimes, quarters and half-dollars difficult to realize as coin collectors are not selling junk silver in my area (Dallas/Fort Worth). To be frank the silver coins that are available are being sold at crazy prices (two or more times spot) over priced right now as everyone is freaking out about the economy. Reasonably priced coins, though significantly delayed, are available online and my collection has mainly been purchased this way. On the other hand, silver …


Letter Re: Recreational Vehicles and Investing in Tangibles

Jim, Thank you for the blog and all the great info you put out. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask you, but first a little info about myself. I am a 40 year old male with a wife and two kids. I live in Kansas, I work at a large manufacturing plant and my wife works for a insurance company. We have a mortgage and other dept. I would like to buy some land out of town and build a retreat for my family and myself for when TSHTF but can not afford it …


Odds ‘n Sods:

More news and commentary, courtesy of our Economic Editor: Layoffs Spreading Across Corporate America — Fed Pushes Purchase of Assets To Bust Credit Logjam —AmEx Profits Fall, Cardholders Struggle — No Chinese Bailout for Pakistan, Next Stop: IMF — Kerkorian Dumps 2/3 of Ford Stock — Bush Says Economic Panic Is Easing — Markets Soar As LIBOR Starts To Fall — Bernanke Wants Second Stimulus Package — Iceland Agrees To $6 Billion Deal With IMF — France To Inject $6.5 Billion Into Top Six Banks — The view from a French think tank: Summer 2009: The US Gov’t Defaults On …



Letter Re: Learning a Second Language as a Survival Skill

Jim, I’m curious about your thoughts regarding a person learning a second language. In America I guess the language of choice would be Spanish simply due to the incredible influx of Hispanics to our shores thanks to our open border policy. Personally, I feel it would be a sound investment to one’s array of survival skills to provide them with the ability to negotiate and communicate with a large segment of the population. Also, if one has to flee south of the border for whatever reason having Spanish under their belt along with a few gold pesos [minted as “Onza …


Two Letters Re: Preparing for Survival Retreat Perimeter Defense

Sir; I noticed the comments about using 1960s vintage flash bulbs as tripwire warning devices for a perimeter. Something that I improvised and used successfully on active duty in the Army in the 70s was also based on flash bulbs. Remember the flash cubes from the 1970s? The four-sided flash bulbs that rotated and flashed on the mass market cameras of the era can be turned into effective and non-lethal warning devices. If they are still available, get a flash cube and look at the underside of it. You will notice a tiny ‘hammer’ that when released strikes a [“primer”-like]device …


Letter Re: Currency Inflation Expectations for the US

Jim, You recently wrote: “The Treasury will undoubtedly be forced to monetize a good portion of the National Debt. This is effectively creating money out of thin air. Each new dollar so created will dilute the purchasing power of the dollars that are already in circulation (Both paper and electronic “dollars”.) This wholesale dollar fabrication will be outrageously inflationary. Be prepared for double digit and then triple digit inflation in the next few years.” Let’s say the Treasury just invents another two trillion dollars by printing currency and forgiving loans. Let’s say they do that every year for the next …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Eric mentioned this article: Windowsill herb growing    o o o Susan Z. flagged this one: ECB council member foresees ‘tri-polar’ currency system    o o o From our Economic Editor: Dow Up 413 On Signs Of Recovering Credit Market — Momentum Builds For New Package To Boost The Economy — Merrill Lynch To Cut Thousands Of Jobs — Bush Advisor Says “Parts of U.S.” Are In Recession —Turmoil May Make Americans Savers, Worsening ‘Nasty’ Recession — Options Pointing To $50 Per Barrel Oil — Banks Braced For Lehman Bros. Insurer’s Deadline — US Highly Inflationary Monetary Growth Will Lead …



Note from JWR:

In today’s first article, I digress from the usual fare in SurvivalBlog to discuss American politics. You may have noticed that I generally refrain from politics in SurvivalBlog. I only make exceptions for political issues that have a direct bearing on the preparedness and/or liberty of a good portion of the SurvivalBlog readership. Our overseas readers might want to skip reading this article. But be forewarned that in the nascent Second Great Depression, you might be faced with similar situations in your own countries.


Letter Re: Advice on Concealing Storage Food

Hi Jim, I’ve researched the net in vain trying to find a solution to this problem, which I suspect I share with a great many people now prepping. I’m hoping you can help. The challenge: Where to hide my food stores? My situation: I live 10 miles from a city of 80,000 in a residential neighborhood. I live at the foot of a small mountain—the area behind my house is woods. I don’t own all of this wooded property, but I’ve never seen the owner. I have significant stores of canned goods, dried oats and beans, flour, sugar, etc. I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Matt in Texas recommended a piece by Sam Mathid posted over at 321Gold.com as a “must read”: It is Time    o o o Writing in a recent issue of The Rude Awakening, economic commentator Joel Bowman notes: “From October 10 through October 17, the Dow [Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)] swung a total of 2,225 points at five separate closes. Put another way, that’s an average daily swing, at the close, of 455 points. This is territory of a tumult as yet not encountered in the history of the market. Measured by the volatility index [VIX], otherwise known as Wall …